Native English (GB) speaker in Cambridge, United Kingdom
"Translating a love of languages into a career (pun intended!)"
I have experience translating webpages for French airports and ports, both the kind providing information on flights and facilities and those describing destinations and visitor attractions. I am able to adapt my style to be informative or persuasive as required.
I am keenly aware of the importance of localisation in this field, for instance correctly translating destination names, the formats for measures of time, currency, etc. so that the information is intelligible to its audience.
A rich world-class education in languages and cultures
Hello! I am a first-class languages graduate from the University of Cambridge, providing translations from French, Spanish and Catalan into English.
I have a BA in Modern and Medieval Languages which involved:
French, Spanish and Catalan language, translation, linguistics, history and literature.
An extensive research project on French literary translation.
An Erasmus placement at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid in Spain where I studied history and French and Catalan language.
More recently I completed an MPhil (Master’s Degree) in European, Latin American and Comparative Literatures and Cultures where I studied:
Paleography (manuscript studies).
The history and theory of gender.
A 30,000-word independent research project on travel in seventeenth-century French women’s writing.
Cambridge is a rigorous learning environment which means I am used to being under time pressure, working independently and carrying out thorough research before undertaking a task.
Experience in a professional translation setting
I have previously worked as a Translation Intern and Assistant Project Manager at the translation agency Raptrad Sud Ouest in Toulouse, France.
Here my main roles were translation, machine translation post-editing and proofreading from French into English, and I also learnt the importance of meticulously researching a text’s subject field before translating.
I carried out project management tasks and quality control checks on translated documents which meant having a very keen eye for detail!
Proficiency in various CAT tools
I currently own and am confident using:
Trados Studio (CAT tool)
Cafetran Espresso (CAT tool)
Microsoft Office
I have also previously used X Bench, XTRF and Across (CAT tool) but do not currently have access to these as a freelancer!
Cathy has been helping me with my literature writing. Cathy studied French, Literature and translation at the University of Cambridge and graduated with honour. Due to her excellent academic performance and skilful translation ability, she can easily understand my writing and give me professional and acute feedback. Cathy is also responsible, patient and easy-going. When working with her, I really appreciate that she can point out the part of writing that needs more clarification. When my citations sounded inaccurate, she even helped me look at the original texts and told me the possible ways to paraphrase them. Working with Cathy not only helped me accomplish high-quality writing and taught me how to create professional academic English writing.
Catherine is extremely detail oriented, and she has an excellent command of English grammar. She is able to satisfy any proofreading need with quick turnaround. I would highly recommend her.
Cathy has helped me proofread my dissertation. I must say that she is a consummate proofreader. She is extremely detail-oriented, helping me identify issues related to citations and language use. She is also very kind to provide professional suggestions to make my writing sound more natural and fluent. Additionnaly, she demonstrates excellent communication skills throughout the process. She would never hesitate to talk with me if anything was unclear. She works efficiently and delivers her work with high quality!